PENN YAN — Abandon Brewing Co. will celebrate its grand opening this weekend with the first release of their new seasonal Smoking Pumpkin Ale in honor of the event.

The dream of a craft brewery on an old farm on Merritt Hill Road just uphill from Route 54A has finally been realized by General Manager Garry Sperrick and Master Brewer Jeff Hillebrandt. The engineer and physicist have partnered to make what was a fulfilling hobby into a profitable enterprise.

Abandon Brewing opened quietly earlier in the fall to get their legs under them, and are already showing they can run at top speed. At last week’s “New York on Tap” beer festival at the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua, they won two Tasters Choice Awards with their Smoking Pumpkin Ale and Reckless Abandon Double IPA.

Hillebrandt, formerly of Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, also served as an intern at Custom Brew Crafters in Honeoye Falls, and studied at brewers’ schools in Chicago and Munich, Germany.

Sperrick is the business force behind and leading Abandon Brewing Co., and is not lacking in his own creativity. Having planted 250 apple trees, he expects to make cider part of Abandon’s market offerings. A vineyard is also being replanted, making wines another possibility. Sperrick describes their philosophy as “living off whatever we can grow here.” That will include a hopyard with six varieties to flavor their beers.